Experiment T4
by hillquo
Summary: What would you do if you saw yourself on TV in a cartoon series out of the blue? That's exactly what our heroes have to contend with. Ladies and gentlemen, meet the real turtles.
1. Chapter 1

**Experiment T4**

**Chapter 1**

"Wow, cool!" Max's eyes widened at the TV screen. "Hey guys! Look, we're on TV!"

"What's this about us being on TV?" Dan walked over casually.

Normally they would have taken something like this as a prank from Maxwell but this time they could all hear the show blasting as clear as day from the TV so they all turned quickly.

"_May I have your attention please… Burrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrp!"  
_"_Eew!"  
_"_This is what I have to live with every day."  
_"_I can't believe I just clapped for that."_

"Is that supposed to be an imitation of me?" Exclaimed Max flabbergastered.

"I can't believe someone actually made a show about us." Liem looked troubled.

"Yeah." Dan agreed. "It's weird."

"But they got a lot of it wrong. I mean for starters, we don't wear fluro headbands around our heads." Max put in.

"I think that's so the audience of the show can tell who's who." Dan pointed out.

"Can you believe it? They actually called me Raphael."

"You've got a nice name. What are you complaining about, Rupert?" Said Dan.

"Hey, is that girl supposed to be Samantha?" Max remarked. "She looks nice."

Everyone pondered about this question for a short while before Dan said, "I don't think so."

"I think I'll call Sam, April from now on." Said Max absent-mindedly.

"Don't." Said Liam weakly.

"Hey, who's that rat supposed to be?" Max asked.

"I don't know. He's old and in control. Maybe he's supposed to be Sam's dad." Dan suggested.

"But why a rat?" Max persisted.

"Well, Sam's dad is a rat on the Chinese Zodiac." Said Liam and thenhis facial expression changed.

"What's up Liam?" Rupert asked concerned.

"This seems to be more than just a coincidence. There are too many similarities for comfort. You don't think this could be a… a trap?" Said Liam voicing his fears.

Silence followed as his brothers pondered his preposition.

"I don't think so." Said Dan finally. "It is a good lure and all but it would be a very expensive campaign to run. Nope I don't think it's a lure for us. I mean I don't think we're worth _that_ much, for people to start wanting to spend millions on a lure like this."

"How many mutant turtles have you come across?" Liam interjected.

"Four." Rupert put in.

"Exactly. We're rare so we would be worth a lot of money." Liam finished.

"Hey, who do you think that Shredder guy is?" Asked Max, now determined to match every character on TV with someone they knew.

"If he was real, we'd do well to stay away from him." Said Liam irritably.

"I just wish I could do some of that karate stuff their doing. It looks like fun." Rupert commented.

"That's your idea of fun?" Dan looked shocked.

"Sure, we can do that. That's easy." Said Max, now pretending to fend off an oncoming army. "Hey Ya, ho ha, hee… oops, sorry."

"Why you…!" Rupert seised Max by the shirt. Max had accidentally whacked him across the head.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

"What's so funny?" Jonathan asked as he came home.

At this stage all the turtles were now laughing hysterically. Previously, after Max's joke at fake martial arts, the turtles had enjoyed some home wrestling entertainment which could have ended pretty seriously if the turtles had been the lean mean fighting machines as portrayed by the cartoon. However as it stands, they were harmless and their blows couldn't inflict any real damage.

"We saw this cartoon about us." Liem said at once.

Sam's father looked troubled for a moment and then as he understood what was being said, he laughed.

"Oh that. That cartoon's been on for ages. I can't believe it's still on. Samantha used to love it when she was little."

"How long has it been on?" Dan asked.

"Oh about twenty years. It originated from a comic book which came out even earlier than that." John replied.

"See, I told you it wasn't a lure for us." Dan turned on Liem, who was still considering this new piece of information. "Unless you're suggesting that someone somehow predicted our existence twenty years ago."

"That's still a pretty big coincidence though." Said Max thoughtfully. "I mean the story fits us perfectly. Maybe someone did predict we would be born and that one day we would develop superpowers and go out and save the world."

"Max, what century are you in?" Rupert sneered.

"Although I must say, you boys shouldn't even have been in here by yourselves." John now looked stern. "Haven't I told you enough times already that unless we're with you, you should stay in the basement? What if someone sees you or hears you when we're out of the house and thinks that something suspicious is going on?"

All the turtles now shuffled nervously on their feet.

"It was Max. He ran into the kitchen and we kind of followed." Liem reported.

"I was hungry." Max protested.

"I thought I stocked the basement just last night." Said Max.

"Um... I got hungry." Said Max uncomfortably.

"We're sorry." The others all said together.

"Did you all do the algebra questions I set?" John asked.

"Well we um… Dan did it." Rupert replied, looking sideways at Dan who had refused to let the others copy his work.

"From now on, I want each and every one of you to do the work that I set you. You must study. It will become more important in your life. If you are to convince society to accept you, you must excel at the things that society values. And not only must you excel but you must be truly better than most people for them to take you seriously."

"John, do you really think people will accept us if one day you let us go out onto the streets?" Liem asked seriously.

"I cannot promise anything for sure." Said John, his voice was now more gentle. "But none the less we must work at it so that there is still hope. I can try to keep you in my basement for the rest of your life, but you will come to hate me for it."

This was quite true, for although they lived a relatively carefree lifestyle in the basement, they were frequently becoming more and more bored and in their youth, had developed a thirst for adventure. Sadly for these turtles, even a trip to the kitchen was an adventure in itself.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

The aftermath of what their discussion with John was the strategic retreat of all four turtles back to their basement wherein they would wait for their beloved Samantha to return from her studies in accounting to discuss her daily adventures with them. But on this night she did not make her visit to their dormitories as was the tradition. Nor it seemed did she return home, for five hours later, John was to burst into the basement with an extremely worried expression on his face.

"Have you guys seen Samantha?" He asked.

"No. Hasn't she come home yet?" Liem asked.

"No. It's not like her to be out this late." John replied.

"Has she got a party on?" Max enquired.

"Not that I know of, and she would usually give me a call if there was one on." Said John looking increasingly puzzled and anxious.

"Maybe she held up in traffic." Daniel suggested.

"You don't think anything's happened to her do ya?" Asked Rupert.

"I hope not." Said her father.

"Just wait a while longer. If she's at a party she'll call and if she's on her way home, she should be here soon." Dan put in. It was something about his voice that always had a soothing effect on his family when they were in a panack.

John soon left the basement leaving the turtles plenty of time to ponder about Samantha's absence. Maxwell stuck to his theory that Sam was at a party and was having so much fun that she momentarily forgot to phone her family. Dan adopted a 'wait and see' approach to the situation and concentrated on a rocket sketch that he was drawing up. Liem and Rupert meanwhile continued to worry.

"Hope nothing has happened to her." Rupert was saying. "Girl like her would be attractinga lot ofattention if she was by herself."

"Which is how she is most of the time." Liem agreed.

For Samantha was a girl who liked being solitary. This was part of the reason why she confided mostly in her reptilian brothers as opposed to her friends on the phone. The turtles had come to enjoying her company for many more hours than is usually available for a socially active twenty-year-old. She still had the one off parties to go to, but not nearly as much as most of the other girls her age.

"Samantha is a fully grown adult and she can take very good care of herself." Said Dan from his rocket drawing.

"Yeah but she's never been out this late without a call." Rupert replied.

"You're being very over protective you two." Dan held his line.

"Not over protective." Said Liem. "Just worried."

* * *

That night Jonathon Yamada did received the phone call he was waiting for. Only it was not from his daughter. 


End file.
